I’d make my decision based on the division standings on 7/12: 7+ games out: move all rentals (Okert, Abreu, De Los Santos, Vazquez) plus Pena. Field offers on Meyers, Paredes, Walker, Lambert, and Brown. Don’t buy. 3-7 games out: move all rentals. Shop for a controllable LH OF bat. Field offers on Pena and Meyers. 0.5-3 games out: add a LH OF bat. Shop for a #2 SP. Rentals are ok. Make offers on a controllable setup man the coaches like. tied or leading division: add a LH OF bat and a SP. Shop for another OF bat and a RP. Rentals are ok.
I know. I wasn’t predicting what crane will do I was saying what I would do. I honestly don’t think crane will authorize a sale unless Houston is 10+ games out of the wild card.
I'm not even sure he'll properly sell then. Get to the offseason, we're one Miguel Tejada or Jason Jennings away from being right back in the mix. Maybe he'll OK a Tucker like trade where MLB talent comes back or salary dump Walker. But the full retool we need isn't gonna happen. It's such deja vu to the 2006/2007 teams that were so clearly done. Yet Drayton insisted on riding all the talent to the very end instead of cashing out which led to an extended run of non competitive baseball while the whole franchise had to reset. We just played 3 of the worst teams in baseball back to back and we went 5-4 with a negative run differential, we're really moving now.
Would have been a bold move to go full rebuild in 06 when they made the World Series in 05… We did end up trading stars like Oswalt, Berkman, Lidge, and Pence. I don’t think we got back any pieces that helped in the rebuild.
In hindsight Houston really didn’t get anything out of all the trades they made during the dark years. For a minute it looked like the Pence trade would work out with Cosart and Singleton and Santana. Villar ended up being a good player for a couple years just not with Houston. Luhnow got Hader for Bud Norris so who knows how those trades would have gone if he’d been GM in 2010-2011.
22 more games before the all star break. Houston goes 14-8 or better, I will probably be a believer. 11-11 or worse and I will really want them to sell. In between and I will want them to try to thread the needle and play both sides at the deadline. Houston is only 2 games out of the WC so unless they fall apart, they’re extremely unlikely to be far enough out to convince Crane to sell.
I like how Luhnow was, in the fact that he was always about winning and didn't care what the media thought or bowed to their wishes and yes it cost him his job, but because of his philosophy and not bowing down to anybody it gave me the ability to watch the best decade of watching MLB or really any sport H=Town has ever experienced and for this I'm greatful. In fact I'm hoping Crane can find his next Luhnow. I also dont blame Luhnow at all for keeping receipts because of the way Drellich/Footer etc.... arrogant asses treated him during the rebuild. Not shockingly Luhnow has moved onto soccer these days and he's been very successful. It's like you dont like people who are successful and dont put up with the crap others throw up that try to derail their plans for success.
Even if we had Hunsicker still as GM, he may have realized value for the trades. Pupura didn't get any. It's why I think it's so important we have a good GM in place before we start tearing things down. Really a shame to waste a MVP season by Yordan in a noncompetitive year. It's like prime Mike Trout, Angels 74-88 level of sad.
1 game in the win column behind the last wild card spot. That 4 game sweep to the Mariners still annoys me.
I will keep watching and hoping at least until the all-star break. One thing about Houston sucking so bad in April is it sets up the potential for a miracle finish. Houston coming back and making a deep playoff run would probably rank in the top 4-5 seasons of the last 20 years if it happens. They have a decent roster, they’ve just been hamstrung by poor starting pitching and untimely hitting. I personally think Imai is a major key. As long as they are going to stick to a 6 man rotation to accommodate him, he HAS to perform, otherwise he single handedly derails the entire staff. I believe that if Imai hadn’t required them to play most of the season a man short in the bullpen, they’d have at least 3-4 more wins at this point.
Current OPS+ Diaz - 69 Cam - 85 Lope - 89 Meyers - 69 Matthews - 71 Altuve - 91 Can this collaboration muster 90 going forward ?? What number is sufficient offense to you ?? Can is a tad worse than last year, very disappointing - but Meyers and Diaz take the whole cake factory. Espada needs to try Meyers 9th again, maybe he regains the glory of Pena protection. Lope vs RHP and non-Daikin Matthews might be the most productive this year. Wade 208
Weird as it is to say, I still think Imai can turn it around. I've seen him be very good. I've seen him be awful. But his high points and his resume in Japan make me think he can still put it together. Potentially, anyway. Which is different than Burrows, who has been consistently awful and pretty mid at his best. Brown-Spaghetti-Lambert fills a solid 3 places in the rotation. Teng was good for awhile but has faded. You can't get by with a rotation running multiple 5+ ERA guys. Even a couple Jake Odorizzi-ish #4 types would go a long way.
I don't think that Christian Javier has ever recovered TBH and I don't think he will as a starting pitcher. I know that the Astros are acting like they will just plug him into the rotation and it will work. I am very skeptical. He doesn't have the same level of command or movement on his pitches that he had before. It is too bad, because he was on his way to being pretty good before he had the arm fatigue and then injury. My hope is that the Astros ownership looks at the situations with Javier and Garcia and Valdez and Correa and Abreu and concludes that the signing of players to long term extensions or deals while under contract is something that needs to be reserved for very specific player types or by teams with the payroll to possibly have a couple contracts under water. So --- the solution is to outwork and outspend teams in the draft, player development and harnessing advantages at the little things. The Astros have lost number one picks in 2020 and 2021 and have lost second rounders in 2020, 2021, 2024 and 2025 (the 29th pick in the draft). In the last 6 years the Astros have lost 2 first rounders and 4 second rounders. Some of that is the scandal, but not all of it.... the Astros shouldn't be losing this many picks....... the 2025 pick was basically a number one pick.
Imai has the ability to be electric -- he is a bit of a knuckle head with unforced mistakes, so he is likely a #2 or #3. I don't know IF he will turn it around, but I do think that it is possible. The Astros GM publicly has said that he wants a bat and an arm in the pen --- but I have already heard he is looking for mid rotation guys.... which is nothing new, even when we had depth, he wanted more in the past.
We got back some good pieces for pence .Singleton , domingo santana , jarred cosart . Santana and cosart were nice trade pieces for us
